We cheated today. We pulled Harmon Park out of the jar. When we went to check it out, it was PACKED! They had baseball/softball games going at both diamonds and absolutely not parking for anyone. So, we promised we would his this park up during the week, and went “parking” without the jar’s guidance.
We went to Awbrey Village Park because it is close to where my husband works. Another neighborhood family came the same time we did, but other than that it was very empty.
There is very limited street parking. Because it is a neighborhood park, I’m sure most of it’s visitors are within walking distance.
The play structure is a normal looking, run-of-the-mill structure. It has two slides. Our son had no interest in it whatsoever, but the neighborhood kids that were there seemed entertained. I didn’t look for an age rating on the structure, but our son didn’t have any problems with any of it’s features. (When we forces him to try it out, anyway.) In total, the play area is very unimaginative.
There are two regular swings. There also seems to be a swing missing from the structure. I heard the neighborhood kids say something about the blue swing missing. Hopefully the blue swing is some sort of infant swing. If you’ve read enough of my reviews, you probably know by now that I do not like any park that has only two swings. My son LOVES to swing. On a busy day a park with few swings could cause us some issues.
There is no large, covered, picnic area. This shouldn’t surprise anyone with the small size of this park. It did have a couple benches, two picnic tables, a water fountain and a doggie station.
There was only one part of this small park that really bothered my helicopter parenting style. There is a curb that goes around the play area. My son, like all kids, used this curb as a balance beam. There is a section of this curb that is bordered by a pretty steep decline covered with rocks. *If* my son was to lose balance, he would fall unto this rocks. My husband and I have deemed this area the “death roll” and patrolled it with a passion.
Ratings:
(A scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is the least desirable and 5 is the most desirable)
Size: 2.5
Condition: 4
Amenities: 3
Safety: 3
Fun: 3
Overall Score: 3.5
For a neighborhood park, this little Gem does it’s job. There is an open grass area next to the play structure. As always, the grounds were very well maintained. I do wonder why there is a swing missing from this park, especially when we visited on such a beautiful Saturday. Because of it’s size, it is missing a lot of the amenities that bigger parks have. The rocks underneath the curb by the play area really do make me nervous. Even though it has a doggie station, I would not call this park dog friendly because of it’s size. The play structure seems unimaginative and may not entertain kids for long periods of time. You can see the Bend Park and Rec website for this park, here.
Bend Family Park Tour 